1992-1996 FINDINGS OF THE COLD WAR WORKING GROUP - Continued Pt. II

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U.S. AIR FORCE RB-29 - - 13 JUNE 1952 - - SEA OF JAPAN

Introduction

Summary of Incident. On 13 June 1952, an RB-29 aircraft stationed at Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, assigned to the 91 st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, carrying a crew of twelve, was shot down by Soviet fighter planes during the conduct of a reconnaissance mission over the Sea of Japan.

American search and rescue efforts were conducted from 14 June until 17 June. On 14 June one of the search planes sighted and photographed an empty life raft. Search planes remained in the area until darkness but were unable to salvage the raft due to prevailing conditions. An unconfirmed report indicated that a second life raft was seen four miles south of the first raft. This report could not be verified. The search resumed on 15 June but neither life raft was seen. The search continued until 17 June 1952. Contemporary American documents report that neither survivors nor wreckage were seen during the search operations. One contemporary Soviet document also notes that no wreckage of the aircraft, pieces of equipment or members of the crew were found. The documentary record of this case is provided in the Archival records section.

In March 1995, during interviews conducted as part of the Commission’s investigation of this incident, two American participants in the search and rescue operations reported having seen the RB-29 intact and floating on the water. Their statements are further detailed in the Eyewitness accounts section.

The entire crew of the RB-29 remains unaccounted for. A presumptive finding of death was issued by the Air Force on 14 November 1955 (Tab A).

Personnel Involved. RB-29 crew

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U.S. position. The U.S. position prior to the establishment of the Joint Commission was that the plane had disappeared during a routine flight over the Sea of Japan. During the work of the Commission, the U.S. side acknowledged that the plane had been on a reconnaissance mission.

Russian position. At the time of the incident the USSR denied any knowledge of the reason for the plane’s disappearance or of the fate of the crew. Following presentation of the case to the Russian side of the Commission, the Russian side provided documents which confirmed that the plane had been shot down by Soviet fighters.

Work of the Commission. The U.S. side included the issue of the unaccounted-for crew from the 13 June 1952 incident at the Joint Commission’s first formal session in Moscow in March 1992. To further the work of the Commission, the U.S. side presented a case study to the Russian side in 1993 (Tab B). As reviewed in the second through fifth sections, the Commission has researched archival records relating to the incident, interviewed U.S. search crew members, and conducted field investigations in Magadan and Vladivostok. The Commission’s work is presented in the Current status section.

Live sighting reports

None

Archival records:

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Russian. The Russian side has passed to the U.S. side diplomatic and military documents related to this incident during the meetings of the Joint Commission. These documents begin to clarify events surrounding the downing of the RB-29.

Soviet archival documents report that Soviet fighters shot down the plane because the RB-29 violated Soviet airspace in the area of Valentin Bay, nine miles from the Soviet coastline. The Soviet documents state that the U.S. plane fired on the Soviet fighters first and that they were forced to return fire. Two MIG-15 fighters, flown by Captains Fedotov and Proskurin, engaged the RB-29. The Soviet documents report that the U.S. plane then “descended to an altitude of 10-15 meters at 1739 hrs, burst into flames and crashed into the water at a distance of about 18 miles from our coastline”.

The three contemporary documents relating to this incident which have been provided by the Russian side to date also shed light on the air engagement and on Soviet knowledge of U.S. search efforts. The 13 June 1952 report from Kuznetsov to Stalin states that the shootdown was recorded on film. The U.S. side has formally requested any photography from the incident. The Russian side has formally stated that the photography cannot be found and that it no longer exists.

In a report to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Comrade Zorin, the Soviet Deputy Minister of State Security reported that no wreckage of the aircraft, pieces of equipment or crew members were found by the coast guard or the shore patrol.

Additional documents being sought by the U.S. side which might pertain to the incident include possible debriefing reports from the two Soviet pilots who are now both deceased (see Current status section), a report made by the Commander of the 5 th Fleet, reports on search and rescue efforts by Soviet forces, and information pertaining to a radio broadcast picked up at Yokota Air Force Base which claimed that a U.S. airman had been picked up from a downed aircraft (see Tab A, paragraph 4.b.).

The holdings from Russian archives that have been provided to the U.S. side in the work of the Commission are as follows (included with translations at Tab C):

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U.S. The U.S. side has established documentation of this incident in U.S. files as follows. The U.S. did not present a formal diplomatic claim against the USSR to the International Court of Justice because of a lack of hard evidence at the time that the plane had been shot down. The U.S. issued one note, no.689 of June 18, 1952, requesting that the USSR investigate the disappearance of a B-29 aircraft during a routine flight over the Sea of Japan. On 16 June 1956 the U.S. claimed that the Soviet Union was aware of U.S. servicemen being held on Soviet territory, specifically mentioning the crew of the RB-29. This note was based on various source reports that American servicemen had been seen in prison camps on Soviet territory. These reports remain unsubstantiated, and no definitive evidence has been located to date on the fates of the twelve unaccounted-for crew members.

The U.S. documents indicate that on 13 June 1952, U.S. military authorities tracked the RB-29 by radar until 1320 hours, at which time it left the radar zone over the Sea of Japan, approximately 100 miles northwest of Hokkaido at a point 120 miles from the Russian coast. The last radio contact with the plane was a routine “coast-out” transmission at 1027 hours.

The American search and rescue effort started on the morning of 14 June and continued until 17 June. A total of 10 aircraft from the 91 st Reconnaissance Squadron, the 345 th Bomber Squadron, and Air Sea Rescue units participated in an intensive search of the proposed route and adjacent areas.

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On 14 June one of the search planes sighted and photographed an empty life raft, which was right side up, at a location approximately 100 miles off the Russian coast. Aircraft remained in the area until nightfall when they returned to base. On 15 June aircraft dispatched to recover the raft were unable to relocate it.

A report indicating that on 14 June another search plane sighted an overturned life raft about four miles south of the first raft could not be verified. No photographs were taken of this second raft, nor was it recovered.

In an Air Force report titled, “Continuance of Missing Status Beyond Twelve Months” and dated 4 Jun 1953, the results of the search and rescue operations conducted from 14-17 June were summarized; “... no wreckage was found, nor was there any sign of survivors.”

Summary of U.S. holdings. Documents related to this case found in U.S. holdings are as follows (Tab D):

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Captains Fedotov and Proskurin, the Soviet pilots who shot down the RB-29, are deceased. No Russian eyewitnesses to the incident or participants in the subsequent search and rescue operations have been identified by the Joint Commission.

During the work of the Commission, former crew members of American planes which participated in the search for the RB-29 and its crew have been interviewed. Two members of a search crew from the 345 th Bomber Squadron at Yokota Air Force Base stated, during interviews conducted in March 1995, that they sighted the RB-29 aircraft floating in the water about twenty-five miles off the Russian coast. (Reports on these interviews are contained at Tab E). According to the two crew members’ reports, the aircraft was floating on the water, undamaged and intact. One crew member recalled that both life raft compartments were open and at least one life raft was missing. As a result of communication problems the aircraft commander did not realize the plane had been spotted until about 15 minutes later. Efforts at that time to relocate the plane were not successful. Because the RB-29 had not been relocated and because none of the search plane’s officers had seen the plane, the two crew members made no mention of the sighting in the debriefing which followed completion of the search mission.

No information on possible survivors to the incident was received from interviews with American search crew members. Information gained from a related incident indicates that captured members of the crew of an B-29 shot down on 4 July 1952 over North Korea were interrogated, in North Korea and China, and were specifically asked about Major Busch, the aircraft commander of the RB-29 shot down on 13 June 1952.

Following their return to the United States after being held prisoner, two of the crew members from the 4 July 1952 shootdown reported that they had been asked about Major Busch during interrogation. (Documents included at Tab D.) One crew member stated in a 1956 statement that the questioning on Major Busch was very intense and that questions on Major Busch’s personality, past history and previous service were asked. This crew member’s statements were confirmed in a follow-up interview conducted recently by the Commission’s support staff.

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A document provided by the Russian side of the Commission in the Korean War Working Group also indicates that information on Major Busch was elicited during the interrogations of the crew of the B-29 downed on 4 July 1952 (Tab C). The Russian side believes there were no survivors in the shootdown of the RB-29, and suggests the interrogators may have learned of the crew names through signals or communications intercepts. Neither side of the Commission has been able to clarify the circumstances surrounding the interrogation about Major Busch. This issue remains unanswered and open to further research.

Field investigations

Representatives of the Joint Commission have made several trips to the Russian Far East in an effort to ascertain the fate of the crew of the RB-29. Two former Soviet prison camps, Magadan and Susuman, have been visited and a trip was made to Vladivostok in March 1995 to attempt to locate eyewitnesses and confirm archival evidence.

Current status

As a result of the work of the Joint Commission the U.S. side has had the opportunity to examine the loss of the RB-29 in detail. Archival data and interviews of search and rescue personnel have contributed to the information available to the Commission.

Efforts are currently underway to locate additional records of the incident in both U.S. and Russian archives, to clarify the significance of the radio message heard on 14 June 1952, and to complete the record by interviewing any additional personnel who have knowledge pertaining to this incident. While both Soviet pilots who participated in the shootdown are now deceased, the U.S. side has asked the Russian side to help locate squadron mates of the pilots who might have authoritative knowledge of the incident. Two newspaper articles citing a variety of witnesses and documentary sources have appeared in the Russian press. (English translations are included at Tab C.) These articles raise a number of questions related to the incident. The Commission continues efforts to locate and interview the journalists who wrote the articles in an effort to identify additional concrete sources of information.

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Paramount in the efforts of the Commission is the question of survivors. Thus far, the work of the Commission has produced the 25 June 1952 letter from Stakhanov to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs stating that no wreckage of the aircraft, pieces of equipment or crew members were found by the coast guard or the shore patrol. The U.S. side continues to press for more detailed, unit-level information from the Border Guards. Additionally, the Commission continues efforts to follow up on the documents at Tab C addressing the interrogation of the crew of the RB-29 shot down on 4 July 1952, to include specific questions about Major Busch. The Commission is still trying to establish why these questions would have been asked.

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U.S. AIR FORCE RB-29 - - 7 OCTOBER 1952 - - NORTHERN PACIFIC

Introduction

Summary of Incident. On 7 October 1952, an RB-29 aircraft stationed at Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, assigned to the 91 st Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron, carrying a crew of eight, was shot down by Soviet fighter planes during the conduct of a reconnaissance mission north of the island of Hokkaido. American search and rescue efforts continued through 12 October, but were unsuccessful due primarily to bad weather. However, there were many eyewitnesses to the incident, mostly Japanese fishermen. Soviet search and rescue units recovered the body of one U.S. crewman, John R. Dunham. His remains were transported to Yuri Island in the Kurile chain, where he was buried. As a direct result of the work of the Commission, his remains have been recovered. The remainder of the crew is still unaccounted for. A presumptive finding of death for the crew was issued by the Air Force on 15 November 1955. The 30 November 1955 casualty report for Captain John Robertson Dunham with its 15 November 1955 presumptive finding of death is included at Tab A.

Personnel Involved. RB-29 crew

DUNHAM, John R., CAPT Remains Recovered
ENGLISH, Eugene M., CAPT Unaccounted For
BROCK, Paul E., 1LT Unaccounted For
COLGAN, Sam A., E-6 Unaccounted For
NAME REDACTED Unaccounted For
KENDRICK, Fred G., E-2 Unaccounted For
NEAIL, Frank E. III, E-2 Unaccounted For
SHIPP, Thomas G., E-1 Unaccounted For

U.S. position. The U.S. position prior to the establishment of the Joint Commission was that this plane had been on a routine operational flight when it was attacked by Soviet fighters and shot down over

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international waters. When the case was presented to the Russian side of the Commission in 1992, the U.S. side acknowledged that the plane had been on an intelligence gathering mission.

Russian position. At the time of the incident, the USSR insisted that the plane had violated the state border of the Soviet Union in the vicinity of Yuri Island. The USSR Foreign Ministry protested the alleged border violation to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, and asserted that Soviet forces had been justified in shooting down the RB-29. During the work of the Commission, the Russian side has acknowledged from the beginning that the RB-29 was shot down by Soviet aircraft.

Work of the Commission. The U.S. side included the issue of the unaccounted-for crew from the 7 October 1952 shootdown as an agenda item at the Joint Commission’s first formal session in Moscow, March 1992. To further the work of the Commission, the U.S. side presented a case study to the Russian side in 1993 (Tab B). As reviewed in the second through fifth sections, the Commission has researched archival records relating to the incident, interviewed participants and witnesses and carried out two field investigations on Yuri Island. The current status of the Commission’s work on this incident is presented in Current status.

Live sighting reports

None

Archival records

Russian. The Russian side has passed to the U.S. side diplomatic and military documents during the meetings of the Joint Commission. These documents provide a detailed account of what happened to the RB-29.

Soviet archival sources establish that Soviet fighters shot down the plane because the RB-29 violated Soviet airspace three times over the southern Kuriles. The first and second alleged violations were for a total of eight or nine minutes over Tanfilev Island, the third over water at latitude 43°, 18’ North, longitude 145° 59’ East. Soviet fighters were scrambled from South Sakhalin airfield, and intercepted the RB-29 south of Demin Island. The Soviet documents state that the U.S. plane fired on the Soviet fighters first and that they were forced to return fire. Two Soviet LA-11 fighters, flown by

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Senior Lieutenants Zhiryakov and Lesnov from the 368 th Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment, engaged the RB-29. The Soviet documents report that the American plane then lost altitude and “went off into the direction of the sea.” These actions occurred between 1400 and 1535 Khabarovsk time (which is one hour later than the Japanese local time).

During plenary sessions of the Joint Commission the Russians passed the U.S. side documents which shed light on the air engagement and their search efforts. One of the first documents received by the U.S. side of the Commission on this incident was a report to Stalin detailing the crash at sea and the recovery of a body. A handwritten log of the 114 th Border Guard detachment indicates that the RB-29 crashed 1.5 KM southwest of Demin Island, and goes on,”the aircraft was in flames as it fell, upon striking the water there were two strong explosions... During examination of the crash site by border troops, the 114 th Border Detachment picked up a pilot’s headless body... The body was in a black flight suit with the name of Dunkkhen Dzhon Robertson, service # 2073A.” Documents which detail the Soviet Board of Inquiry, carried out later in October 1952, were passed to the U.S. side in September 1993, along with a map indicating the flight path of the RB-29. The Russian side of the Commission passed the U.S. side a document in March 1994 that detailed the location of Dunham’s burial site on Yuri Island. It was signed by three Soviet officers who attested to the burial.

The holdings from Russian archives that have been provided to the U.S. side in the work of the Commission are as follows (included with translations at Tab C):

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U.S. This incident is heavily documented in U.S. files. The U.S. presented a formal diplomatic claim against the USSR in September 1954 for $1.6 million for loss of the plane and crew, and took the case to the International Court of Justice in May 1955. The American legal position centered on questions of sovereignty over the Kuriles and nearby islands. U.S. records indicate that Soviet fighters shot down the RB-29 in the vicinity of Demin Island at around 1430 local on 7 October 1952 at approximately 43° 24’ North, 146°, 6’ East.

U.S. military authorities were tracking the RB-29 at the Air Defense Center in Nagoya, Japan. They saw the radar trace of the American plane merge with the track of an unidentified plane. The RB-29 had time to broadcast, “Mayday, let’s get the hell out of here,” before it went down. All military authorities interviewed by U.S. investigators shortly after the incident insisted that the RB-29 was on the U.S. side of the so-called MacArthur line, the dividing line between Soviet and American zones of occupation in post-war Japan.

The American SAR effort started immediately. Fighters from Chitose AB, and planes from the 3 rd Air Rescue Group engaged in a search of the general crash area until 12 October 52. This effort was hampered greatly by bad weather. The Navy vessel referenced in U.S. documents as “Falcon Victor” also searched the crash area. No debris or survivors were found.

Summary of U.S. holdings. Documents related to this case found in U.S. holdings are as follows (at Tab D):

Chronology of incident

Combat Operations Division Daily Diary dated 7 October 1952

Japan Air Defense Force History with list of supporting documents

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Security Information dated 8 October 1952 w/correction of 10 October 1952

Soviet note dated 12 October 1952

Department of State Bulletin: Soviet note of 12 October 1952

Department of State Bulletin: U.S. reply of 17 October 1952

Telegram to Department of State from the Charge D’Affaires dated 17 October 1952

Press Release No. 816

Department of State Bulletin: Soviet note of 24 November 1953

Department of State Bulletin: U.S. note of 16 December 1953

Eyewitness accounts

There is much eyewitness evidence in U.S. archival material. The U.S. side interviewed numerous (at least 51) Japanese fishermen who were in the area on 7 October 1952, some in Soviet custody on Yuri Island. None of the interviewees saw the attack, but all saw the plane at some point during its flight. The eyewitnesses all tell much the same story: the RB-29 was flying in the vicinity of the Kurile/Habomai Islands on the afternoon of 7 October 1952 when fighters appeared and shot the plane down. It went down trailing thick black smoke.

At the 7 th Plenary session of the Commission in December, 1993, former Soviet KGB Maritime Border Guards sailor Vasili Saiko came forward. Saiko had served in the Maritime Border Guards on a cutter in the Yuri Island region. On 7 October 1952, he and his mates watched the shootdown of the RB-29 from their ship, and were then tasked to sail to the crash site to recover survivors/plane parts. Saiko himself pulled Captain Dunham’s body out of the water. On the evening of 7 October, while the cutter was en route to Yuri Island, Saiko took from one of Dunham’s fingers his Naval Academy class ring. Saiko first showed the ring to the U.S. Co-Chairman of the Cold War Working Group and then presented the ring to Ambassador Toon at a press conference, and asked that the ring be presented to

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Dunham’s widow. This was done in a Pentagon ceremony on 16 December 1993. Saiko said that there were no survivors and no other remains at the crash site. Saiko’s full account is at Tab E.

On 22 June 1994, U.S. interviewers met with retired Colonel Boris Alekseyevich Zhiryakov in Yevpatoriya, Ukraine. In 1952, he served as the Deputy Commander of the 368 th Fighter Air Regiment. He stated that he was the pilot who shot down the RB-29 on 7 October 1952. He described how he warned the plane and tried to get it to land. When his warnings were ignored, he fired at it. The plane blew up in the air at 5000 meters, with the wings separating from the fuselage before it crashed into the sea near the shore. He stated emphatically and unequivocally that no air crewman could have survived the shootdown. A report on the interview with Zhiryakov and a transcript from a follow-on interview are at Tab F.

Field investigations

In May 1994, a joint U.S.-Russian team went to Yuri Island to attempt to find Captain Dunham’s remains. This first try was unsuccessful. In August/September 1994 a second expedition found and repatriated the remains of Captain Dunham. Full accounts of both trips are at Tab G.

Current status

As a result of the work of the Joint Commission, the U.S. side has had the opportunity to examine the loss of the RB-29 in detail. Archival data, eyewitness accounts, and the testimony of two former Soviet military personnel - one who shot down the plane, the other who recovered Captain Dunham’s body from the Pacific Ocean - have contributed to the information available to the Commission.

Paramount in the efforts of the Commission is the question of survivors. Besides Captain Dunham, there were seven other crewmen on board the aircraft. At the 11 th Plenary session in December 1994, new information from an interview with former Soviet Captain Panov was presented. Captain Panov stated that he was serving at a command post on Kunashir Island at the time of the incident and had heard that an American aviator was picked up by a Soviet cutter. There are no other

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references to survivors in any of the documentation on either side, nor do any witnesses or participants mention the possibility of survivors.

Captain Panov also stated that he had been told by Lieutenant Zhiryakov that two parachutes were seen during this shootdown incident. During a follow-up interview, Colonel (Ret.) Zhiryakov disavowed any such statements. A report in the combat log of the USAF 39 th Air Division asserts that the Japanese National Police had received reports of two parachutes sighted shortly after the attack. However, it was later reported by USAF tracking station #26 at Nemuro Point that the sighting had been erroneous. At this point in the work of the Commission, new leads for further inquiry have not yet been developed.

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U.S. AIR FORCE RB-50- - 29 JULY 1953 - - SEA OF JAPAN

Introduction

Summary of Incident. On 29 July 1953 an RB-50 aircraft stationed at Yokota Air Force Base, Japan, carrying a crew of seventeen, was shot down by Soviet fighter planes during the conduct of a reconnaissance mission over the Sea of Japan. From 29 July until 31 July search and rescue efforts along the planned flight path of the missing aircraft were conducted by U.S. Navy surface vessels and planes from the U.S. Air Force. On 30 July, the RB-50’s co-pilot, Captain John E. Roche, the lone occupant of a life raft which had been dropped on 29 July, was rescued by the USS Picking.

Crew members from U.S. search and rescue planes reported dropping a life boat to four survivors in the vicinity of the area where Captain Roche was rescued. They also thought they had seen three additional survivors about one mile away. Deteriorating weather conditions precluded positive confirmation of these sightings.

The scope of Soviet search and rescue operations remains unclear. Participants in the U.S. search and rescue operations reported seeing between nine and twelve Soviet “PT” type boats during their search and that at least six of these boats were heading in the direction of the crash. U.S. communications intercept reports also place Soviet ships in the area at the time of the incident. On the Russian side, a contemporary Soviet document states that with the exception of one trawler, no other Soviet ships were in the area. However, the Russian co-Chairman of the Commission has said there were Soviet patrol boats in the area, although their logs have not been found.

The remains of two crew members, Captain Stanley O’Kelley and Master Sergeant Francis Brown, were later recovered along the coast of Japan. First Lieutenant James Keith is presumed dead based on information provided by Captain Roche. The remainder of the crew is unaccounted for. A presumptive finding of death was issued by the Air Force on 14 November 1955. (At Tab A)

Personnel Involved. RB-50 crew

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U.S. position. The U.S. position prior to the establishment of the Joint Commission was that this plane had been on a routine navigational training flight when it was attacked by Soviet fighters approximately 40 miles off the Russian coast. When the case was presented to the Russian side of the Commission in 1992 the U.S. side acknowledged that the plane had been on a reconnaissance mission.

In diplomatic correspondence and high-level meetings following the incident, the U.S. Government repeatedly raised the question of additional survivors with the Soviet Government. Within

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the U.S. Government at the time of the incident there was a strong belief that the Soviets had picked up survivors of the crash.

Russian position. At the time of the incident the USSR insisted that the plane had violated Soviet territorial waters off Cape Povorotny. The USSR Foreign Ministry protested this alleged border violation to the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, stating that the RB-50 had fired first and the Soviet fighters had been forced to return fire. During the work of the Commission the Russian side has acknowledged from the beginning that the RB-50 was shot down by Soviet aircraft.

Throughout the diplomatic activity which followed the incident, the Soviet Government repeatedly stated that it had no information whatsoever concerning the plane or any member of its crew and that, according to verified information, the plane was last seen headed out to sea.

Work of the Commission. The U.S. side included the issue of the unaccounted-for crewmen from the 29 July 1953 shootdown as an agenda item at the Joint Commission’s first formal session in Moscow in March 1992. To further the work of the Commission the U.S. side presented a case study to the Russian side in 1993 (Tab B). As reviewed in the second through fifth sections, the Commission has continued to pursue this case with great dedication, researching archival records relating to the incident, interviewing participants and witnesses and visiting sites in the former Soviet Union.

At the 10 th Plenary Session of the U.S.-Russia Joint Commission held in Moscow in September 1994, General Volkogonov, the Russian co-Chairman of the Commission, described the 29 July 1953 incident as a “very puzzling case.” He further suggested that pieces of the puzzle have yet to be found and that work remains to be done on this case and must continue. General Volkogonov concluded his remarks on the RB-50 shootdown by stating, “The case remains an historic mystery.” Interviewed about the case in a 1994 BBC TV documentary, Spies in the Sky, General Volkogonov said, “There were boats in the area. We can’t find the logs. This, too, makes me suspicious.” The current status of the Commission’s work on this incident is presented in Current status.

Live sighting reports

None

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